A TOP Palace official hinted at the President as eagerly excited to be vaccinated.
According to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, President Rodrigo Duterte himself told him how eager he is to see COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in the country.
“Tatapatin ko kayo, si Presidente ang nagsalita na siya mismo naiinip na, kinakailangan dumating na ang mga bakuna. Kaya naman siguro dahil nagsalita na ng ganyan ang Presidente eh gagalaw na ng mabilis ang lahat,” Roque said.
Duterte earlier certified two bills as urgent – one that allows local government units to make advance payments exceeding 15% in buying COVID-19 vaccines and another one that would see the government financially compensating those who will experience severe adverse events as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The government hinted at the need to comply with a requirement imposed by biopharmaceutical firms behind the development, manufacture and sale of COVID-19 vaccines – specifically that of the indemnification clause, which the Palace mouthpiece claimed as the reason for the delay in the arrival of the first batch of 117,000 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX facility.
Roque has also said that the scheduled February 23 arrival of 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine Sinovac, which was donated by the Chinese government, could also be delayed since the pharmaceutical firm is yet to be issued emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA).